Voorzitter Spanje overlegt ambities buitenlands beleid met EU afgevaardigden (en)

On 25th and 26th February the EU Foreign Affairs Committee Chairs will take part in a Conference in the National Parliament in Madrid. The conference will be opened by the Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero i, and will be attended by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton i.

The presidents of the Spanish Parliament and Senate's Commissions for Foreign Affairs, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida and Adoración Quesada, will chair the Conference of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairs (COFACC).

After Zapatero's opening speech, the Spanish minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, will outline the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, and the Secretary of State for Latin America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, will speak about relations between the EU and Latin America.

At the end of the first day of the Conference, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, is due to speak on current affairs, which will subsequently be debated.

On Friday the Conference will begin with a speech from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángel Losada, on “the Union for the Mediterranean: institutionalisation and projects at regional level”.

This is one of the meetings organised under the Spanish legislature, during the six-month Spanish Presidency of the European Union, with the national parliaments of Member States and with the European Parliament.

During this period, the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC i) will be held in the Spanish Parliament and in the Senate, along with the sectorial committee chairs of national parliaments and of the European Parliament. Joint parliamentary meetings will also be held.